


I Like Me Better (When I'm With You)

by sapphirelights



Series: Falling [2]
Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Amusement Parks, Attempt at Humor, Drinking, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Huskies!!, Light Angst, M/M, MARS ASMR, Minor Choi San/Jung Wooyoung, Mutual Pining, Neighbors, Not Beta Read, OT8, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Rated T for Language/Swearing, Sleepovers, Slow Burn, Social Media, Truth or Dare, YouTuber!Hongjoong, YouTuber!Seonghwa, hongjoong multitalented king, travelling abroad, yungi and jongsang if you squint
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:28:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26532109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphirelights/pseuds/sapphirelights
Summary: Hongjoong and Seonghwa are famous YouTube Vloggers and close friends. One day, they decide to do a video together, which becomes a huge hit among their fans, skyrocketing their popularity. So, they decide to turn it into a series of videos together. What happens along the chaotic journey, filled with playful banter, college assignments, sleepovers, movie nights, amusement parks, challenging games, misunderstandings, tears and possible growing feelings?
Relationships: Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Series: Falling [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1930060
Comments: 11
Kudos: 86





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If you know this prompt, you probably know how this is gonna end lol
> 
> My first chaptered fic!! :D 
> 
> This is a continuation of my other fic Of Huskies and Street Signs, you don’t ‘have’ to read, but it does give a little background on how seongjoong’s first meeting goes hehe
> 
> Happy reading!!

“Thank you, everyone!!”

Hongjoong smiles at the camera before leaning in to stop the recording. Once he leans back again in his chair, he releases out a long breath. 

He’d just finished recording for his new vlog video — this time, it was a special song cover in thanks for reaching over 500,000 subscribers — and he still has to tidy up and edit the video so he can post it later tonight. 

Hongjoong stretches his arms out, back arching as he feels the stress on his muscles from where he has been sitting for nearly an hour or so. Running a hand through his faded red hair, Hongjoong gets up from his seat and decides to have a snack first before getting to work. 

Hongjoong was a YouTube Vlogger — and a popular one at that, if he says so himself. His videos mostly consisted of him reforming items like clothes, accessories or bags, categorizing under art and fashion and occasionally even song covers if he felt like it. He’d first gained attention from the public from one of his dance covers as it blew up and spread through social media like wildfire, and since then a lot of people had subscribed to his channel as well as followed him on other platforms. While he did manage to earn a good amount of money through vlogging, he still considered it as more or less a fun hobby if anything. Plus, it went hand in hand with his actual work too. 

Balancing between college and vlogging often proves to be quite strenuous, but Hongjoong makes the most of it, managing them all along with the addition of a very frisky fluffball who accompanied him. 

Speaking of said fluffball, Hongjoong hears his lovely husky run up to him and paw against his leg just as he steps out of the room. 

“Hey, Leo,” He greets, bending down to pat the little one’s head. He moves towards the kitchen to make his evening snack — chicken nuggets. He takes out the frozen bag of nuggets to cool down a bit, before boiling up some water for his coffee. It was going to be his fifth (or sixth?) caffeine induced drink for that day and Hongjoong can already hear his best friend’s chiding. Oh, well. He places the nuggets in the air fryer and waits. 

Twenty or so minutes later, Hongjoong sits on the couch with his chicken nuggets in his lap, coffee in one hand and a drama series playing on the tv. Leo lies next to him, occasionally asking to be fed a nugget but otherwise the husky remained content with snuggling next to his owner. Needless to say, time passes quickly, Hongjoong not really paying attention to the TV, his thoughts more focused on finishing up his video and releasing it so he can finally get to bed early for once. He has an 8AM class tomorrow, but his lecturer had instructed them to arrive fifteen minutes early for a special discussion about a project they had to do over the course of the mid-term break (seriously, they call it “break” and yet every college student seemed to be bombarded with assignments and projects) and promises of having their class marks affected if they were to be late. 

Hongjoong does not look forward to flunking his classes anytime soon, thank you very much.

Fast forward to an hour and a half later, Hongjoong makes the finishing touches on his video before uploading it. Instantly, he feels his phone spasm from the increasing notifications of comments and likes. He goes through the YouTube comment section first, chest filling up with warmth as he read the loving comments left by his subscribers. Then, he proceeds to post it on Twitter, and the notifications increase tenfold before he mutes it. The replies are endearing to read, and Hongjoong feels a smile grace his lips as he goes through them. 

_“OH MY GOD HONGJOONG”_

_“I love this song omg thank u Hongjoong”_

_“your voice is so pretty!!”_

_“VOCAL KING COME THROUGHH”_

_“congrats on 500k!! you deserve it! ❤️”_

Among the comments, one catches his eye.

_“his voice is so soft, imagine him doing asmr”_

Below that, someone else had replied, 

_“Omg what if he collabs with mars_asmr???”_

Hongjoong reads a few more comments in support of this, claiming how amazing it would be if they made a video together. As if on cue, he receives another notification, from which lets out a soft snort as he reads the message. 

**mars berry:** Heyyy I watched your new video it was beautiful as always <33

 **mars berry:** And congrats on 500k I’m so proud of you 🥺

Hongjoong types out his reply, gaining another stream of compliments from his lovely best friend. Said best friend also happens to be the person his followers had been wanting him to collaborate with, by the way. Hongjoong informs him as such. 

He waits for the other to reply and contemplates the idea. It’s … not something they’ve considered, not because they didn't want to, they just never gave it a thought. It definitely isn't a bad idea, though.

Seonghwa was a YouTube Vlogger like Hongjoong, except his videos were mostly, if not all, ASMR videos posted under the name _MARS_ASMR_. Seonghwa’s channel was also quite well-known (even more popular than Hongjoong’s but Seonghwa would continue to deny it every time). They followed each other on their socials, sometimes commenting on the other’s posts even, no doubt the interactions causing their beloved subscribers/fans/followers to gush over — yet they have never considered the thought of joining together for video content. 

Contrary to popular belief, he and Seonghwa didn't meet through social media, like most people would assume. Rather, Hongjoong’s first meeting with Seonghwa was very memorable and happened very much in real life. Hongjoong still remembers the exact moment where Seonghwa had ever so (not) gracefully smacked himself on a street sign months ago, never failing to tease the older about it even to this day. 

And if their first meeting wasn't remarkable on its own, it also turned out that both of them were not only going to the same university, but they were _neighbours_ , living only three feet away.

So, it was only natural that, when they’d found out the other was a famous YouTube Vlogger, they both lost it. 

_“Talk about coincidences,” Hongjoong snorted._

_“Almost like it was fate,” Seonghwa had joked in return, both of them laughing at the revelation._

Hongjoong’s phone dings with a new notification, effectively snapping him out of his thoughts. 

**mars berry:** Sounds … interesting? 

**mars berry:** Can’t say I ever thought about it, but I wouldn’t mind

 **mars berry:** Wby, what do you think?

‘I’m not opposed to it,’ Hongjoong replies back. They continue to talk about the possible beginnings of collaborating videos, sometimes getting side tracked with other jokes and comments here and there. Before they realize it, an hour has passed with them just texting one another. 

Hongjoong tells Seonghwa to go to sleep, because miraculously enough, the older boy has a similar project discussion as him tomorrow morning, albeit in a different class, so they both need to be awake early. Seonghwa retaliates, telling Hongjoong not to drink another coffee because he’s already had enough for the day — which the younger begrudgingly agrees to — and a few more minutes of bickering pass between them and soon they wish each other a goodnight. 

Hongjoong washes up and changes into a comfortable over-sized shirt, forgoing pants because really, who needs to wear pants to sleep anyway. As he turns the lights off and climbs into bed, he feels another presence near as they plop down next to him.

“Puppy,” Hongjoong coos, reaching out to pet his baby husky. “Joining me for bed, tonight?” 

Leo yips in response before settling down and making himself comfortable under the sheets. He gives Hongjoong a tiny lick on the man’s cheeks, making him giggle in response. 

“Goodnight to you too, Leo.” 

* • * • * • * • *

The next morning, Hongjoong finds himself yawning as he sits in his seat and watches the other students walk into the auditorium and slowly fill in. The time reads 7:41 on the clock and their lecturer is busy setting up the screen before the class starts. Four more minutes for them to arrive. 

Among the murmured voices, Hongjoong hears the distinct chatter of familiar voices enter the class, not bothering to turn around to look. He doesn’t have to as someone pulls back the chair next to him and sits, flashing him a tired smile, and Hongjoong’s lips quirk in response. 

“Morning, hyung,” Yunho, one of his closest friends whispers, taking his seat next to the older. Hongjoong greets back, raising a hand to discreetly flip the younger boy as he tells him _“Hyung, you look like shit, did you sleep at all?”_

Soon, almost all the students have piled in and the lecturer starts to hand out some forms for them to fill. They mark their attendance as well in the meantime, while their lecturer waits to begin the details of the discussion at 8AM sharp once everyone is done. Apparently, their project was to be a group project — no surprise there — and it was to be done during a trip that the university had arranged to … Australia? 

Murmurs of shock and awe passes throughout the class, everyone feeling excited and nervous together as the lecturer explains that it is part of their curriculum, and will count almost a good 40% towards their final grade. They were also allowed bonus marks for certain aspects of their projects, so it is a good chance for students to easily catch up on their grade.

The lecturer begins listing down the groups, because of course they were decided by her, and Hongjoong takes this time to think about the project. 

_Australia, huh?_ he thinks. He’s never been there before, but he can’t say he’s not excited. 

Next to him, Yunho starts to talk about how cool it was going to be and how he wished that he and Hongjoong would end up in the same group. Hongjoong hopes for it too, but knowing their lecturer, close friends were almost always put in separate groups, as seen from their previous group assignments. Something about making more friends and adapting to new environments or so. Which is why it completely takes both Hongjoong and Yunho by surprise as the lecturer calls out their names together along with two other students.

“Choi Jongho, Kim Hongjoong, Jung Wooyoung and Jeong Yunho,” Their lecturer calls out. “The four of you will be in the same group, so please take note and get along with your fellow members.” 

Hongjoong blinks. Yunho also sits, baffled but clearly coming to accept it much faster than the older.

“Jongho is going to be with us, huh,” Yunho muses. Jongho was Yunho’s half-brother, hence the difference in last name, and was a year younger than him.

“So is Wooyoung,” Hongjoong says, sighing loudly. “Ahh, we’re not going to have any peace or quiet.” 

Two rows across him, said boy yells indignantly. “Hey, I heard that!” Instantly, he gets scolded by the lecturer for raising his voice, Jongho facepalming next to him in embarrassment.

Wooyoung was a friend of Jongho’s, apparently having attached himself to the younger boy in one of their classes after walking up to him to ask for notes and then refusing to leave his side afterwards.

Wooyoung calls it mutual friendship, Jongho calls it having an annoying leech attached to your neck. _(“At least I’m a handsome leech!” Wooyoung exclaimed.)_

“Well, this should be fun,” Yunho laughs. “At least we know we’ll get along, if nothing else.”

“You’re right,” Hongjoong agrees. Honestly, he’s just glad he didn’t end up with completely useless group members as he usually always does, leaving him to do most of the work and saving their asses in time. 

After the groups are set, leaders picked (Hongjoong gets picked as the leader for his group, because “ _obviously_ who else”) and project details discussed, the class begins their lessons as usual and Hongjoong already looks forward to the end of the class. 

From the corner of his eye, he sees his phone light up as a notification pops up, indicating a new message. Hongjoong smiles internally as he sees who it's from, a small red berry at the end of the display name, message filled with lots of exclamation marks and emojis, no doubt indicating the other’s excitement about his own project. 

Yeah, he can’t wait to go home.

* • * • * • * • *

Hours later — backpack displaced, freshly showered and changed into comfortable clothes, Hongjoong sits on the brown L-shaped couch, petting Leo in his lap as the distinct smell of ramen wafts through the room. On the counter dividing the living room and kitchen, a Bluetooth speaker is placed, softly playing out the tunes to a popular English song. Seonghwa is in the kitchen, humming along to the melody as he dutifully prepares their dinner for the night. 

It’s currently 7PM, and another one of the best friends’ frequent movie nights, though it’s been a while since they’ve had one lately due to the copious amount of college work they were drowned with. 

They decide to watch a new drama series on TV tonight, and with the next day being a Saturday they could have a drama marathon as much as they’d like and sleep in the morning. Hongjoong sets up the drama and presses pause as Seonghwa walks over with their dinner. He places the bowls on the coffee table, next to the already placed glasses of cola. Finally with both of them settling down comfortably on the couch, they press play. 

They make comments as they watch, and snicker or laugh at certain points — the usual banter they always have, and it’s comfortable and familiar. At some point in the night, probably around 11PM and Leo has already fallen asleep, ramen bowls emptied ages ago and the cola bottle nearly half finished, Hongjoong is suddenly reminded of last night’s conversation. Immediately, he sits up from where he is leaning on Seonghwa’s shoulder, startling the older boy in the process. 

“Hey, remember last night?” Hongjoong says, watching Seonghwa merely raise an eyebrow in question. “We talked about how fun it might be to make a video together.”

“We did,” Seonghwa replies. “Any reason you’re bringing this up now?”

Hongjoong grins. “I was thinking,” He starts. “What if we actually make one right now?”

“Right now?? Hongjoong, it’s near midnight.”

“So?”

“So- are you serious,” Seonghwa says in disbelief. “You want to make a video now?”

“Sure, why not?” Hongjoong shrugs. “We were going to stay up late anyway, might as well do the video instead for a change.”

“...” 

Seonghwa is pensive, before looking at Hongjoong and realizing he has no way out of this because the red haired boy has already made up his mind and won’t budge anytime soon. He sighs. 

“Alright, but what kind of a video are we even going to do?” Seonghwa asks. “We’ll have to set up the camera, and change our clothes and tidy our hair and face, and wait- we still don’t even know what we’re doing and-”

“Seonghwa,” Hongjoong interrupts his best friend’s rambling before he went off on a tangent, unable to help himself from finding it endearing. Hongjoong smiles. “How about an ASMR video? You can post it from your channel then, like we talked last night.”

Seonghwa considers the thought. “Hmm, then I’d have to set up the mic and everything first … what are we going to do? I mean,” He gestures vaguely with his hands for a few seconds, unable to find the words.

“We can just do a simple introduction video, like we discussed,” Hongjoong says. “Kind of like a Q&A or an interview!” 

“Let’s write down some questions first, then.” Seonghwa suggests.

With that said, both of them set to work, Seonghwa retrieving some notebooks, paper and pens for them to write on. The next forty five minutes or so is spent on writing up questions about each other, Seonghwa referring to their texts from the previous night for reference and Hongjoong even asking for questions on Twitter (without spoiling the surprise, of course). His followers were clearly confused at first, but proceeded to send in questions anyway, thinking it was for new content or a Q&A session from Hongjoong. Well, they were _partially_ right. 

Once they finish up with the questions, they decide to wash up and get dressed properly. Hongjoong goes back to his own apartment less than five seconds away to get changed while Seonghwa sets up the equipment and changes his clothes as well. He goes to wash his face properly first before moving to his clothes, lest he look like he was half asleep or something. 

Right then, it hits him that he’s really about to create a video this late at midnight with his best friend, an ASMR video no less, lord help his soul. Why did he suggest doing this again? Right, impulses. Hongjoong laughs to himself, drying his face off with a towel and moving to search for clothes. 

Rummaging through his wardrobe, Hongjoong tries to find a simple yet easy outfit he could wear. In the end, he picks out a plain white v-neck blouse and a matching beige cardigan, tucking the blouse into a pair of brown pants. He grabs a necklace at random from his dresser, quickly finding matching earrings to go with it. Finally, he touches up his face lightly and styles his hair so that it isn’t an unruly mess. Leaning back, Hongjoong looks himself over in his mirror, nodding to himself and deeming his overall appearance decent. 

When he enters back into Seonghwa’s apartment, the other boy is already dressed as well — lights turned on, empty bowls and glasses washed and the coffee table made neatly as it was before their little dinner. 

Hongjoong takes a minute to discreetly glance over the older boy’s form, no he is definitely not staring. He bites the inside of he cheek to stop himself from blurting our something stupid as he sees the other. 

Seonghwa is dressed in a simple white shirt with a black grid pattern in it, tucked into white pants. He finishes off the look with a silver three layered necklace and matching earring on his left ear. Seonghwa’s hair is slightly missed, bangs falling over his forehead, giving off a styled yet effortless impression. It’s a simple outfit, and Hongjoong only feels slightly jealous that the older boy is able to pull it off so well.

Perks of having a model-like body, he figures.

At this point, Hongjoong is pretty sure he’s staring very obviously but thankfully Seonghwa seems preoccupied with the equipment setup. San, his other best friend, would probably snicker at his face if he was here to see Hongjoong right now, he just knows. 

Either way, Seonghwa is giving off ‘very soft boyfriend vibes’ — as San would put it — and Hongjoong can feel a part of him die already. And he still has to sit through the rest of the night to make an ASMR video with Seonghwa. 

Oh, god. Seonghwa, doing ASMR, right next to him. _With_ him. Fuck. 

Okay, so Hongjoong already acknowledges that he finds the older man attractive — because he _is_ , ridiculously so — he’s thought that since the first day they met, and maybe, just _maybe_ those wandering thoughts of admiral may have developed a little further along the way into feelings that you probably don’t usually feel for your best friend, or any friend for that matter. 

That being said, Hongjoong doesn’t plan on revealing his feelings to Seonghwa anytime soon, very much preferring to maintain their friendship as it is. He likes the way things are now, and he would never forgive himself if he were to ruin what they had between them just because of his more-than-friendly feelings. Of course, that doesn’t make it any easier for him to not have his heart race a mile per minute or have butterflies flutter in his stomach whenever the older boy was around. 

Back to the present, Seonghwa finishes setting up the equipment and calls Hongjoong over so they can start the video. 

“You look good,” Hongjoong compliments as he walks over to sit in the chair. “Seriously, it’s unfair how you got blessed with such good genes, I feel kinda insecure now.” He adds jokingly. 

Seonghwa flushes at the praise. 

“Oh please,” he says. “Give yourself some credit, you look great, too.” 

Seonghwa readies the camera and they both go over the questions one more time before starting. Hongjoong is slightly nervous, because this is an ASMR video and he has never done ASMR in his life and he tells Seonghwa this much. Seonghwa reassures him that it will be fine and he just has to follow Seonghwa’s lead. Once they’re done with that, he starts the camera and goes to sit down on the chair next to Hongjoong with the mic placed in between them. 

“Hello, everyone, and welcome to MARS_ASMR Special” Seonghwa starts his introduction, voice lowered down to a hushed whisper. “It’s a special video today … why? Because we have a very special guest here, who is it~?” 

Seonghwa makes a sound of drums rolling and Hongjoong has to bite his tongue not to laugh out loud. He moves closer to the mic to start whispering. 

“Hi everyone,” Hongjoong whispers. “I’m Hongjoong.” 

“Today, Hongjoong is going to be joining me for the video. It will be something like a kind of interview? So we’ll be answering a few questions, and even some from Hongjoong’s Twitter followers a while ago too.”

“We’ll whisper,” Hongjoong starts. 

“Everything about us,” Seonghwa finishes. 

Together, both of them whisper to the mic. “Mars ASMR MATZ Special Interview start!”

They continue the video like that, first introducing themselves with a bit of personal information like names, age, where they are from, height and even their blood type for some curious fans. Occasionally, Hongjoong winds up laughing out of embarrassment or forgetting to whisper and they have to pause the video, but Seonghwa is patient and leads the younger through everything. A wide range of questions are asked around such as their TMI’s, favourite songs, how/when they became friends — in which Hongjoong has great pleasure is telling the story whereas Seonghwa wishes the ground would swallow him whole — and even guessing the size of Seonghwa’s waist where Hongjoong has to physically wrap his arm around the older boy’s waist to make a guess. 

“Wow, he’s really slim,” Hongjoong gasps. “I can feel his abs here?” 

Seonghwa immediately gets shy at that, squirming in his seat as Hongjoong tells him to stay still so he can measure. 

“I think ... about twenty-three centimetres?” Hongjoong guesses. 

“Twenty-three- no way!” Seonghwa sputters, voice coming out a bit louder than he intended, immediately apologizing afterwards. “Ya, if it’s twenty-three centimetres then you can wrap one entire hand around it.” 

“Forty-six centimetres!” Hongjoong says confidently. 

In the end, they have to use an actual measuring tape to measure his waist size (which is 65cm by the way). 

Seonghwa also tries to balance a cotton swab on Hongjoong’s eyelashes (which they succeed, much to their amusement) and at some point, they end up making kissing/pecking sounds into the mic for god knows what reason and Hongjoong fails miserably in the process. 

The video ends with both of them lathering lotion in their hands and giving the viewers an “ear massage” — Hongjoong feeling slightly weird about the whole process but bearing with it for the video. 

By the time they finally finish creating the video, editing and all done, sunlight starts to peek in through the windows. It’s already early morning. 

The two of them are currently sprawled on the living room floor, on a spare double mattress that Seonghwa owned, having changed back into their comfortable clothes. After they’d put all the video equipment away, they’d flopped onto the mattress, devoid of all energy. Leo remains on the couch, curled into a tiny ball where he had slept throughout the whole night, not waking up even when Seonghwa had accidentally knocked the mic or when Hongjoong had dropped the lotion bottle to the floor. Hongjoong is glad he did, because filming ASMR content with a very (awake) enthusiastic husky in the same vicinity might have not been a good idea. 

Seonghwa stretches his limbs and yawns. “Wow, look at that,” he says, watching the sunlight slowly lights up through the little spaces in the curtains. Seonghwa has dark fabric curtains, so the sun didn’t light up the whole room unless the curtains were drawn. “We really did stay up the whole night and didn’t even realize.” 

“Yeah,” Hongjoong says tiredly. “I wish we could go watch the sunrise.” 

“We can’t watch the sunrise.” Seonghwa pouts. 

“Sad.”

Truly sad, because the location of their apartment complex did not give them a good opportunity to view the sunrise, however, they were granted with a lovely view of the sunset from the pool on the second floor as well as the terrace. 

“Should we upload the video now?” Seonghwa asks, turning to face Hongjoong from where he was lying on his side. He had his laptop nearby, ready to post the video at any time. 

“I guess,” Hongjoong says. “Or do you want to wait after waking up later? Because I am about to pass out any minute.”

“How about we post it now and just go to sleep? Then we can check everyone’s reaction afterwards.” 

“I’m going to be honest with you, when I wake up I’ll probably forget we even did this whole thing and just be confused.”

Seonghwa laughs. “Of course, you would. But me too, I’m so tired I think I’m going to sleep the whole day.” 

“I’m more amazed you didn’t fall asleep in the middle of the video.” Hongjoong snorts. 

Seonghwa gives him a pointed look. “Unlike you, I wasn’t high off of seven doses of caffeine.” 

“Excuses, excuses.” Hongjoong waves him off, quickly changing the topic. “Okay, post the video so we can both get some shut eye.” 

“Mmkay.”

Seonghwa shifts around, grabbing his laptop nearby and proceeding to open YouTube. They two of them do a mini countdown before Seonghwa presses upload, then quickly making a post on Twitter — Hongjoong doing the same — before shutting it down and setting all their electronic devices aside. 

Just as they’re about to shut their eyes and get some good sleep, a soft bark is heard throughout the room. Hongjoong groans. 

“Oh god, I completely forgot about Leo.” Hongjoong says, looking over at the couch where his puppy now sits up awake, blinking back at him. “Good morning, pup.” 

Leo yips in response. Seonghwa softly greets a good morning to the puppy too, who jumps down from the couch and bounds over to them. 

“Hongjoong, what are we going to do?” Seonghwa asks, gently petting Leo who had cuddled up against his arm. “We can’t leave him alone while we sleep…” 

They couldn’t leave the poor puppy all by himself even with food, because they don’t know how long they would be asleep for and Hongjoong knows there’s no way Leo would go back to sleeping again right after waking up. He doesn’t usually forget about his beloved husky, in fact, he almost never does but being preoccupied in making the video with Seonghwa, it had somehow slipped his mind that he had a whole pet to take care of. For a second, Hongjoong considers staying up the rest of the day with maybe an hour or two of sleep (not like he usually has a good sleep schedule anyway) until exhaustion kicks him in the head, effectively reminding him of the activities from mere minutes ago. Rubbing his face, he grabs his phone. 

“I know, hold on,” Hongjoong says, quickly dialing a number. “Wait, I think I can drop him off at Sannie’s place.”

The phone rings three times before the other person picks up, voice coming out deep and rough through the phone.

“Please tell me this is something important and not another one of your coffee-induced rants because Hongjoong I swear to all that is-”

“Well, good morning to you too, Sunshine,” Hongjoong says cheerfully. 

San grunts on the other end of the call. “Why are you calling me at [shuffling in the background] barely 7AM on a Saturday morning when half of the country is asleep?” 

“Calm down, drama queen, did you sleep late last night or something? Actually, never mind don’t answer that, you probably stayed up all night playing games with Yunho didn’t you,” Hongjoong sighs. 

San hums sleepily in confirmation. 

“Anyway, I’m just calling to let you know if I can drop Leo at your place?”

“Yeah? Why do you need my permission for that, you can bring him over any time-”

“I mean, right now.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” Hongjoong bites his lip, praying the younger boy would agree. 

“... Can I ask why?”

“Less questions, more answering. I’ll explain later.”

San huffs. “Fine, but only because Leo is my baby and I love him to death, not for you or anything.”

“Oh, thank you Sannie, you are truly a blessing,” Hongjoong says gratefully. 

“Whatever,” San grumbles. “Just bring him over.”

With that, Hongjoong quickly picks up Leo (not before Seonghwa shared a few hugs with the puppy) and rushes the door, grabbing a few of Leo’s leashes and toys along with his food and hurriedly making his way to the next building. He thanks the stars that his best friend just so happened to live in the building across him, making his life so much more easier.

The trip to San’s apartment is quick, Hongjoong climbing up the steps and gently petting Leo while murmuring a few apologies and promises of hanging out with the puppy next day for the entire day. Leo only licks Hongjoong’s face in response, not upset but more so excited at the fact that he was going to be hanging out with San (he recognized the buildings and where San lived, clever boy as he was). 

Hongjoong reaches San’s door, handing him Leo and the puppy’s belongings and thanking the younger boy over and over. 

“It’s fine, just go cuddle your boyfriend already.” San smirks. 

Hongjoong blushes profusely at the remark. “He is not-! oh why do I even bother.” He regrets telling his best friend about his crush for his other best friend. 

Hongjoong bids San goodbye, giving Leo a kiss and turns to go back to his place. If he were any more awake and less disoriented, he may have noticed the presence of a familiar lilac haired boy inside San’s apartment. 

When Hongjoong makes it back to Seonghwa’s apartment — and god, he’s even more tired than he was before — Seonghwa is resting on the mattress with his eyes closed. Hongjoong wonders if the older boy had finally fallen asleep until the eyes opened and stared back at him. 

“I am back,” Hongjoong says, lying down next to the other. “And dead tired, goodnight.” 

“It’s seven in the morning.” Seonghwa chuckles lightly. 

“Mhm, goodnight, Hwa,” 

“Goodnight, Hongjoong.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally, I planned to do this on Twitter as a social media AU (which is still in the process!) but right now I don’t feel like being on Twitter so I decided I will start here instead and maybe post on Twitter later once this fic is finished :D
> 
> I don’t know how long this fic will be, I’m just going with the flow at this point lmao
> 
> Comments and feedback are much appreciated ^^


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... Hi I did not abandon this fic I swear 
> 
> I'm soo sorry it's been so long I didn't expect to hit a writer's block RIGHT AFTER posting the first chapter and then work kept me busy too hhh :// 
> 
> Anyway! Hopefully I will try to update much sooner next time. This is more of a filler-ish(?) chapter or so but enjoy reading~

Hongjoong sits draped over his couch, multitasking between scrolling through his social media, playing fetch with Leo and texting Seonghwa as he waits for the other boy to come over. Leo hops around the living room, chasing after a softball. Occasionally, he brings it up to Hongjoong where the boy leisurely throws the ball around for his puppy to catch.

**me:** where are you

 **me:** its been thirty mins you are late

**mars berry:** Calm down you little gremlin I’m on my way

 **mars berry:** I had to make a detour and pick up the flowers from the shop 

**me:** and who’s fault is that

**mars berry:** Um

 **mars berry:** Yours??? 

**mars berry:** You wanted carnations and baby’s breaths for your reforming video today hello

**me:** oh

 **me:** oh yeahh 

**me:** you’re still late 

**mars berry:** I will not hesitate to kick your ass when I get there you little shit 

**me:** not if i bite your knees first 

**mars berry:** You’ll need to reach them first bb 

**me:** knife emoji

 **me** : just get over here 

Hongjoong puts his phone down and reaches to pet Leo who had come up to him with the softball in his mouth. 

“Having fun, Leo?” He smiles, taking the ball and throwing it once more as the husky runs off to fetch. Absentmindedly, Hongjoong thinks back to the night they had made that ASMR video together, after a drama marathon at 3AM on an impulse decision.

When the both of them had finally woken up that day, feeling groggy and disoriented, it was already near 4PM in the evening. They really did end up sleeping for half the day. Getting up, Hongjoong had first attempted to make it back to his place but not before Seonghwa had wheedled him into having a late breakfast (brunch?) together.

Hongjoong feels his face slightly burn as he remembers waking up to them having almost close to no space between and facing each other, Seonghwa lying merely a few breaths away. The older boy looked so soft and serene sleeping peacefully like that, close enough for Hongjoong to count his eyelashes fanning over his cheekbones — not that he did, he definitely did not — hair falling over in tangled and _oh_ those soft, pink lips pursed together in a cute pout. It is safe to say Hongjoong almost near died from a cardiac arrest on the spot. Whether he had stayed staring at his best friend’s face for a while before the other woke up was no one’s business to know. 

Speaking of yesterday, Hongjoong also thinks about the events from last night, which leads to his current state right now. 

Needless to say, their little video has garnered much attention from not only Seonghwa’s fans but also Hongjoong’s own following as well. Both parties expressed their shock and enthusiasm greatly, spamming the comment section of the video with love and encouragement as well as requests for more similar videos. They also spread the word across Twitter and Instagram like wildfire, no doubt filling both Hongjoong and Seonghwa’s mentions with the overload of notifications. 

_“HOLY SHIT ARE YALL SEEING THIS??”_

_“WHAT THE FUCK YOU CANT JUST DROP THIS BOMB OUT OF NO WHERE”_

_“they heard our prayers omg HONGMARS COLLAB!!”_

_“i can’t believe my two favourite youtubers are best friends??;.)?:/? this is a dream come true”_

_“mars skinny waist wtf”_

_“THE WAY THEY LOOK AT EACH OTHER THEY ARE SO WHIPPED BYE”_

_“FINALLY SOMEONE AGREES! just look how fondly Hongjoong is looking at MARS”_

_“hongjoong your gay is showing bby”_

_“Mars looks adorable in his outfit TT”_

_“is no one gonna talk about how they just dropped this in the middle of the night like i’m pretty sure its 3am in korea um”_

_“this is so cute i hope they make another video together!”_

While they had of course expected a positive reaction, the two friends were still shocked at the sheer _amount_ of response they received. The video had become so popular to the point that the number of views it gained was more than some of Seonghwa and Hongjoong’s videos combined. As a result, Hongjoong had gained a number of followers for both his channel and social media accounts, most of Seonghwa’s fans being curious as to who MARS’ friend was. Some of Hongjoong’s own fans had also begun to follow Seonghwa in return.

Hongjoong was happy at the well received response from their fans, excited even, and Seonghwa seems to be even more over the moon by this fact. As content creators, it is always a wonderful feeling to know that your targeted audience enjoys what you are giving them. 

Now this, this was over two weeks ago. Days have passed since then and they were still continuing their normal routine. Overall, the incident had eventually led the two friends to one inevitable question; are they going to continue with it?

The answer is obvious. 

Cue to today, where Hongjoong is patiently waiting for the older boy to arrive so that they can get started on their next video together. After discussing it through, they both decided to make it a little series, where the two of them would appear together for a video in each other’s channels alternating between even and odd numbers. Since the first video was made on Seonghwa’s channel, it is Hongjoong’s turn this time around, Seonghwa next and so on.

Speaking of the devil, Hongjoong thinks as his apartment door opens and Seonghwa walks in, holding two paper bags in hand. 

“About time,” Hongjoong says wryly, getting up from where he is lying on the couch. 

Seonghwa rolls his eyes good heartedly, setting the paper bags down and sitting next to the younger boy. 

“And whose fault is that?” Seonghwa says, parroting back Hongjoong’s question from earlier, to which Hongjoong simply sticks out his tongue in response. 

They don’t waste any more time before Hongjoong moves to set up the equipment and arrange the items that Seonghwa brought with him on a table. 

“Why do you need so many flowers again?” Seonghwa asks curiously. 

“We’ll be reforming a bag today,” Hongjoong replies. “I will do one, and you can do one. It’s pretty much up to you to style it however you want.” 

“You’re the creative one though,” Seonghwa hums. “I doubt mine would look pretty next to yours.” 

It’s said jokingly, and Hongjoong knows it is but he won’t have any of it. 

“Shush, you’ll make a bag just as pretty, if not even prettier than my own one,” Hongjoong says. “You’re creative yourself too Hwa, don’t sell yourself short.”

Seonghwa only smiles warmly in response. It’s _that_ smile — a smile the older boy only reserved for a handful of people and Hongjoong was one of the few lucky enough for it to be directed at. It’s also a smile that makes Hongjoong’s heart skip beats and leap somersaults inside his chest if possible, but Hongjoong won’t let the other know that. 

He gestures the older boy over so they can begin. 

“Are we following another script this time or…?” 

“Just follow my lead.”

“Okay.”

And with that, they start filming. 

* • * • * • * • *

Two hours later, the two of them find themselves inside a quaint little coffee shop, Seonghwa working diligently at the counter as Hongjoong sips his Espresso and types away at his laptop, having secluded himself into one of the corner tables. 

They had finished making the video, editing and all, and the end products had turned out quite nicely too. Hongjoong had gone with a simple transparent backpack, decorating it minimalistically with white carnations and baby breaths. He also added his own spark to it, highlighting a white butterfly on the corner for the finishing touch. Meanwhile, Seonghwa had taken one of his older used backpacks and woven the flowers on the front in a pattern. The pink peonies and yellow tulips, along with the baby’s breaths looked lovely against the blue shade of the backpack, and Seonghwa was proud of his creation. He had also drawn little stars opposite to the flowers using a gold marker, and Hongjoong thought it was absolutely adorable. 

Once they had finished, they’d made their way to the café where Seonghwa worked at, just in time for his shift and Hongjoong followed along. If anyone asks, he is simply going there because the atmosphere makes it easy for him to work on his assignments — definitely not for any other motives at all such as shooting heart eyes at his best friend at the counter like San says he does. Hongjoong does not. San would disagree. 

There are quite a few customers in at this time, as it is the time where most students finish their classes and head to the café nearby campus for group studies or just to relax. At the counter, Seonghwa and San work together in synchronized harmony, having perfected their coordination with one another through months of experience. Seonghwa handled the counter, welcoming in customers and taking orders, then collecting the bills afterwards whereas San was in charge of preparing the different beverages and handing them to the customers once done. San had always wanted to be a barista, so making different varieties of coffee everyday came naturally to him. Seonghwa seemed to share the same sentiment, although he favoured more towards working in a small bookstore or flower shop. 

Which, speaking of, it just so happens that the coffee shop has a small section in the left side dedicated to a mini-library — much to Seonghwa’s delight. 

The corner has shelves stacked with a few books and novels ranging from different genres, and a few educational books as well for the students’ benefit. A few bean bags had been placed in the corner, courtesy of one Choi San who had insisted that the comfy furniture was a must to have. The books aren’t for sale or borrowing but customers are allowed to go through the books as they wish and read during their stay inside the café. It also happens to be one of the areas that Hongjoong frequents most, appreciating the quiet and calm atmosphere of the mini-library, making it a perfect spot to do assignments or work on his music. Today is no exception. 

As Hongjoong types away at his assignment, he sees San leave the counter and walk towards him. The blond makes his way over and plops down on the bean bag nearest to Hongjoong, the latter raising an eyebrow at the younger boy. 

“I got a ten minute break,” San explains to which Hongjoong responses with an understanding “ah,”. “So, I decided I would spend my precious free time by catching up with my lovely best friend!” 

“I feel honored,” Hongjoong deadpans, continuing to type his essay. 

“Oh, come on,” San whines. “When are you going to tell me about that time you dropped off Leo at my place at the ass crack of dawn-” — “Language, Choi San!” Seonghwa calls from the counter — “-and for _what reason_ and why you so mysteriously didn’t come to pick him up until at six in the evening, and mind you this was two weeks ago and I still have yet to know the answers of.”

San ends his little spiel by blinking up at his best friend, lips pouted to maximum effect and Hongjoong already knows this is a lost battle. It was long overdue anyway. 

Hongjoong sighs. “Fine, I will tell you.”

And so, Hongjoong relays all the details of the incidents that occurred over the course of the past two weeks as well as today’s little activity to San, who listens in earnest and slight amusement. 

“So yeah,” Hongjoong finishes. “That’s that.”

“Yeah, I saw the video later too,” San says. “And I only found it out because Wooyoung showed it to me.” He pouts at the end. 

“Sorry, Sannie,” Hongjoong apologizes to the younger. “I meant to explain everything much sooner but college got in the way after.”

“It’s okay,” San waves it off. Then, his lips lift into a smirk and his voice takes a teasing lilt. “By the way~ Do you know how whipped you looked in that first video? You were making so much heart eyes even the fans noticed.

“Oh god, stop,” Hongjoong groans. “I don’t want to hear any of it.” 

“Seriously,” San says. “When are you going to tell Hwa hyung about your feelings?”

“Preferably never.”

“Hyung!”

“Leave me and my one-sided feelings alone to wallow in misery.” This time it’s Hongjoong’s turn to whine.

Sap gapes at his (oblivious, but he won’t say that out loud, not yet) best friend. When it looks like Hongjoong won’t push the topic any further, San sighs and changes the subject. 

“Okay, but you know Seonghwa hyung’s birthday is coming up right?” San says. “What are you going to give him?”

“Don’t remind me,” Hongjoong sighs. “I still haven’t thought of what to give yet.”

“You haven't?!”

“Shh!” Hongjoong hisses at the younger, noticing their older friend turn his head around at San’s comment. 

“Sorry,” San says sheepishly, voice returning to a more lower tone. “You don’t know what to give him?”

“I mean, I have a few ideas but none of them seem good enough. I don’t want to make it too flashy but I also don’t want to give him something mundane? I don’t know.” Hongjoong pouts, frustrated with the fact that he didn’t have a gift ready to give to Seonghwa, whose birthday is only a few weeks away. 

“You know he’ll love whatever you give him, right?” San reassures him softly. 

“Still, ahhh …” Hongjoong slumps down onto the table, moping. 

“Oh well, I wouldn’t worry too much about it if I were you,” San says cheerfully. “I’m sure you’ll come up with a lovely gift for him.” 

Before Hongjoong can reply, San gets called back to work and the red haired boy is left alone once again, this time contemplating birthday gift ideas for his best friend. Seonghwa gives him a curious look from the counter, to which Hongjoong waves the older off. 

Hongjoong goes back to typing his assignment and time passes by. Soon, it's closing time before he knows it and Seonghwa is walking over towards him with his apron off. It seems San is doing the closing today, so Hongjoong packs up his belongings and gets up, both he and Seonghwa waving to their younger friend as they exit the café. 

It’s late evening now, the sun long gone and birds chirping sweetly in the distance. The walk to their apartment is peaceful as Seonghwa talks about some of the customer’s today and how work generally went, while Hongjoong listens intently and inputs some of his own conversations about the current assignment he is working on. 

Soon, they reach their apartment complex. When they go up and stand in front of their respective apartment doors, ready to wish goodnight maybe, Hongjoong asks.

“Do you wanna come in?”

Seonghwa only smiles in response, following after Hongjoong and entering his flat, because it's normal, it’s _routine_ between them and it's comfortable.

As if on cue, Leo runs up to them as they enter, Seonghwa reaching down to coo and pet the puppy. 

“Hi, puppy,” Seonghwa says, ruffling the little husky’s fur. “How have you been today?”

Leo yips to reply and Seonghwa laughs. 

As Seonghwa continues to chat/play with the excited puppy, Hongjoong walks in and settles down by the coffee table in the living room, taking out his sketchbook this time. He considered continuing with his assignment, but quickly discarded that idea. He still has the next day, so he can do it later since it was almost finished. 

Seonghwa comes over then, moving to sit down on the couch with Leo in his lap. Hongjoong sits by the older boy’s legs, resting comfortably as he picks up his pencil. He doesn’t know what he’s going to draw yet, but he’s going to draw anyway. 

So they stay like that, Hongjoong languidly sketching away at his book and Seonghwa multitasking between scrolling through his phone and petting Leo. The quiet silence that occurs between them sometimes isn't awkward, but rather comforting instead, which is something they both appreciate. (“You can put some music on if you want,” “It won’t bother you?” “No, it’s fine,” “Okay,”) The music serves as a solacing noise in the background.

Usually, Hongjoong feels twitchy or irritated whenever someone else is in the same space as him when he’s drawing or painting, preferring to be left alone and undisturbed. 

But with Seonghwa, it is easy, relaxing even. 

Neither of them try to make unnecessary small talk, both being terrible at it and deciding simply to not force conversations with one another. (“What are you drawing?” “Hmm, I don’t know,” “Understandable,”).

Seonghwa is reading out some of the comments left by fans on their latest video, and Hongjoong is trying to perfect the lines of the sunflower he is drawing when he notices something. 

“You seem to like this song a lot,” Hongjoong speaks up. 

“Huh?” Seonghwa turns to face him confusedly. Hongjoong has to crane his neck back to face the older boy. 

“I said you seem to like this song very much …” Hongjoong repeats. “Considering you put it on repeat like, three times now.”  
  
Seonghwa chuckles. “Ah, you noticed that?”

Hongjoong nods. “What song is it?” He says. “I think I might’ve heard it from somewhere but I don’t know.” 

“It’s a quite popular English song I think, so you might hear it a lot,” Seonghwa says. “It’s called You Are My Sunshine. You also probably heard me singing or humming it too.” 

Hongjoong hums in acknowledgment and looks back up at the raven haired boy again. “Sing it for me?”

“You want me to sing for you?” Seonghwa says amusedly. 

“Yes, I thought I made that perfectly clear.” Hongjoong replies with a light sarcastic tone. That earns him a prompt flick on the forehead. 

“Ya, that hurt!” Hongjoong whines (He’s not pouting, he’s _not_ ).

Seonghwa snorts. “You’re a brat,” He easily replies before playing the song back. 

Seonghwa clears his throat and begins to sing along with the song, and Hongjoong is left smitten once more.

Hongjoong listens to Seonghwa sing, voice soothing and sounding like honey and silk combined, soft enough that the red haired could fall asleep listening to it. Somewhere through, Hongjoong’s stopped working on his drawing, turning to focus purely on the older boy’s singing. It’s not the first time he’s heard Seonghwa sing, but the feeling he gets is the same every time. 

Hongjoong doesn’t know or how or when, but the last thing he can remember is the older boy’s sweet voice lulling him into a deep sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and feedback are much appreciated ^^


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... Hi
> 
> I am late again I’m soo sorry, work just keeps me really busy ahh 
> 
> This chapter was a bit hard to go through so I ended up writing scenes here and there and merged them at the last minute and it’s not beta read at all so I might edit later in the morning bc it’s 1am and I am deadbeat 
> 
> Also I’ll be honest I have no idea how universities work in Korea so let’s just pretend this works (don’t pay too much attention to the project pls it’s not that important)

Days pass by in a blur, the remnants of a cold winter snow melting and giving way to the bloom of flowers and greenery as Spring makes its way. It’s sometime in the middle of March now, and cities are bustling with life as the season suggests, people becoming more active along with the fresh weather. 

Springtime also happens to be a busy period for college students as assignments and projects start building up before summer comes soon. The strenuous work adds up to even more stress and time-consumption, and Hongjoong is no exception. 

College has been keeping him busy lately, not just with important projects and midterms but also the big trip to Australia which counts for a good portion of his credits. Their departure day is coming soon and Hongjoong has more or less been spending time preparing for the trip. 

He is currently in the middle of packing and double-checking which belongings to take, checking them off from a list he wrote in a little notebook as Leo runs circles around his legs, chasing a red rubber ball. Sure, Hongjoong is more often than not disorganized and a bit messy at times, but when it comes to things like this, he makes extra effort to be as prepared and orderly as he can. 

His phone rings off then, a notification popping up on the screen right after the familiar tune. 

**mars berry:** Heyy

**me:** hi

**mars berry:** How’s packing coming along?

**me:** tiring -3-

 **me:** i think i’ve finished with most of it though

 **me:** wby

**mars berry:** I already packed everything a week ago 

**me:** of course

 **me:** why did i even ask 

**mars berry:** *rolls eyes*

**me:** did you just roll your eyes through text

 **me** : you know you can just use the emoji right 

**mars berry:** Yes I did, and what about it?

**me:** i-

 **me:** you know what nvm 

They continue their banter like that for a while, talking about their day, how assignments and so were going, and not to forget about the big trip to Australia. 

**me:** wish we could be in the same group ://

**mars berry:** Our classes don’t match, Joongie

Ah, that nickname. Hongjoong actively tries not to squeal. 

**me:** STILL 

**me:** would be fun :((

 **me:** instead i’m stuck with wooyoung

**mars berry:** Hongjoong, don’t be mean 

**me:** i was kidding 

**me:** or not really 

**mars berry:** Hongjoong

**me:** :<

Soon, their conversation steers away into different topics — random at most. They spend a good amount of time talking, grateful for the small distraction from whatever responsibilities they had to do. Sadly, their little chat has to come to an end soon. 

**mars berry:** Ah, I have to go now 

**me:** oh

 **me:** okay 

**mars berry:** See you later

 **mars berry** : We can go to the airport together if you want ? 

**me:** sure let’s do that 

**me:** see youu

**mars berry:** Can’t wait :D

_Me too_ , Hongjoong thinks. 

* • * • * • * • *

Opening the door to the house, Hongjoong lets out a tired groan. The flight had been less than a walk in the path, spending over sixteen hours travelling having drained all of his energy. He’d gone to the airport together with Seonghwa as they planned, later parting ways as they had to take different seats in the plane and later different routes to their accommodation.

Hongjoong quickly steps inside, settling his baggage near the coffee table. Behind him, Yunho walks in, Jongho following him in as well. 

“Ah, I am absolutely beat,” Yunho makes a beeline straight for the couch and promptly flops on top of it. 

Jongho sets his bag down on the kitchen counter, opting to go explore the house around. They had all just arrived in Australia for their project work, having finally made it to the house they would be living in for the next couple of weeks. 

“Wahh, this house is bigger than I thought it would be,” Jongho says, astonished as he roams around the house. “Oh, we even have a swimming pool.”

“That’s great,” Yunho’s voice comes muffled from where his face is squished against the couch. 

“Yunho-yah, here’s your bag,” Hongjoong brings the younger’s backpack, putting it down on the floor next to the boy. “You almost forgot it in the bus.” 

“Thanks, hyung.” 

Hongjoong sighs. He then decides to take the time to look around as well, however noting the absence of one more person. 

“Hey, has anyone seen Wooyou—”

“Ya, you guys are so mean, how could you guys just leave me all alone there!” 

“Ah, there he is.”

On cue, the boy stomps into the house, snarky remark on the tip of his tongue when he sees the inside of the place. 

“Holy shit, this place is huge,” Wooyoung exclaims, shocked. His previous anger is quickly replaced by excitement as he runs around to look, making his way upstairs. 

“Now that I think about it,” Hongjoong mumbles to himself. “Isn’t this place too big for four people?” 

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it, hyung.” Yunho says. 

Just then, they hear yelling from upstairs, Wooyoung’s voice ringing out something about the bedrooms. That makes Yunho jump up as well, going over to check out the rooms with the younger boy. 

“Oh my god, we have a trampoline!” Jongho yells somewhere from the backyard. 

“Lovely.” Hongjoong calls out. He honestly just wants to lie down. 

As he moves to sit on the couch, he notices a white envelope lying on the coffee table. 

“Oh, what’s this?” Hongjoong sits down, taking the envelope and opening it to reveal a paper-card(?) inside. He pulls it out, reading the contents written in it. 

“... you are cordially invited to a dinner…” Hongjoong reads off the invitation letter, eyebrows rising in surprise. “Guys, come over here.” He calls out to the others, waiting as they rush back in and lounge on the sofa. 

“It says we’re invited to this big dinner they’re having for all the students,” Hongjoong explains. “And … it’s tonight, apparently.”

“Wow, they’re sure taking this a bit grand, aren’t they?” Wooyoung remarks. 

“It sounds fun though,” Yunho says. “Besides, free food!”

“How are we going to get there?” Jongho asks, concerned. 

Hongjoong looks back over the letter and skims through for any information. 

“Ah, it says they’ll be sending over a bus to collect us, so we just need to get ready in time,” Hongjoong says. “So I guess we can just rest for now, unpack and then maybe grab some lunch and then get ready later, cool?” 

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Wooyoung grins. “Oh, by the way I’m taking the room on the left, ciao!” 

With that, he zooms off up the stairs again. How he has that much energy even after extremely long hours of travelling, no one knows. 

The rest of them nod, deciding to head their own ways to the rooms, eagerly waiting for the night to come. 

* • * • * • * • *

Hongjoong looks himself over in the large vanity mirror once more, straightening his ruffled collar and sweeping a hand over his hair to tame it down. His newly bleached hair is almost silver now, the soft strands making him look like what was a fairy prince (San’s words, not his). He’s wearing a light grey shirt, with colourful lilies patterned all over, tucked into fitting black jeans and paired off with his own customized shoes. A simple necklace sits between his collarbones, a blue pendant hanging from the gold chain, and matching earrings adorning both of his ears. He had done some light make-up as well, to finish the look. 

Currently, Hongjoong is standing in front of the mirror of a very luxurious restroom, which is part of an even more extravagant ballroom. It’s a dinner party for all the students in his college who are all here for their project work, and the teachers seemed to deem it fitting to have a grand dinner on the first night, before sending everyone to themselves. Hongjoong doesn’t entirely understand their teacher’s intentions but he doesn’t give it too much thought either. Everyone seems to be enjoying it anyway, so what’s there to complain about? 

Only half the students that came on the trip were at the dinner though, the rest had ended up having to stay over at a hotel due to unforeseen circumstances regarding their original place of stay. As it turned out, Seonghwa happened to be in that group. Hongjoong didn’t even try to hide his disappointment when he first found out, but Seonghwa assured that they could still meet up whenever they could. It didn’t stop Hongjoong from wishing the older boy was here at the dinner. 

Hongjoong gives himself a once over for the last time before nodding to himself and stepping out of the bright restroom. As soon as he does, he’s met with the pouting face of his best friend. 

“Finally!” San whines impatiently. “How long do you need to take to make some ‘minor adjustments’, you already look amazing!” 

Hongjoong sighs fondly and reaches a hand up to ruffle San’s well styled hair. The younger boy had forgone his previous style of red highlights to a plain black with a simple white streak in front. Hongjoong loves to call it a pie chart. 

“Oh, shush,” Hongjoong says, rolling his eyes good naturedly. “You look great too by the way, maybe you might even catch Wooyoung’s attention.” He teases at the end, laughing as the younger swats his hand away and huffs petulantly. 

Hongjoong is honest with his compliment. San is wearing a simple black blazer with a purple shirt underneath, hair slicked back and eyes accented with light eyeliner. He looks handsome enough that Hongjoong has no doubt the younger boy would be stealing the attention of several other students that night. 

“Never mind that,” San grabs Hongjoong’s hand and proceeds to pull him towards the other end of the room. Hongjoong notes how San had avoided answering the latter part of his statement. “Let’s go eat something, I’m hungry.”

“Yes, sir.”

San brings him over to the food table where there is a variety of assortments from snacks and small dishes on display. San starts picking at the mini fruit cake while Hongjoong eyes a few sweets and savory short snacks displayed on the snack stand. He reaches out to pick one and sample it, deciding that he liked the taste of the salmon one, pointing it out to San to have a taste as well. 

“You know,” San starts, munching around a small blueberry muffin. “I’m still mad we couldn’t get to be in the same group.” He pouts as he speaks, looking way too endearing for his own good. 

Funny enough, San had also ended up in the same group as Seonghwa, so he was meant to be staying at the hotel along with the other students, but somehow found a way to come to the dinner. Hongjoong doesn’t know how, but he doesn't question it either; the younger boy has his ways (It also got him to hope that maybe a certain raven haired boy was here too, but that was probably just wishful thinking).

“We’re not in the same class Sannie,” Hongjoong chuckles, licking off some cheese that was leftover on his lips. “I don’t think we’ll be staying too far, we can still maybe meet up in our free time, so don’t be too sad about it, okay?” 

“Fine,” San sighs. 

They stay there for a few minutes, trying out different sorts of short eats and such until another student comes up to them, a friend of San’s it seemed. San chats up with the guy, soon getting carried away as he gets dragged along to talk with some other students in the same class. San had tried to protest first, not wanting to leave his best friend alone but Hongjoong waves him off, telling him to spend time with his friends. 

Hongjoong watches his friend go, turning around to grab some of the chocolate fondant cake he was eyeing earlier when someone bumps into him rather harshly. 

“Oh, I am so sorry—”

“Oh my gosh, are you alright—”

Hongjoong stops short when he sees the familiar face. The other person seems to do the same, mouth fallin in an ‘o’ at the recognition. 

“Seonghwa?” Hongjoong asks, voice laced in surprise. “I thought you were staying at a hotel?”

Seonghwa laughs sheepishly.

“We are,” Seonghwa says, shrugging a bit. “We’re having a small dinner over there too, but they said we could come here if we like — using our own money, that is.” 

“You used your own money to get here?” Hongjoong exclaims. 

“It’s alright,” Seonghwa insists. “It isn’t that far away and the ride wasn’t that expensive either.”

“Still…”

“Hongjoong, it’s fine,” Seonghwa says, voice soothing, looking at Hongjoong gently and Hongjoong can feel his resolve break. How was he supposed to stay firm with _that_ look direct at him?

“Okay, fine,” Hongjoong sighs and gives in. “But why come all the way here in the first place?”

“Oh, um,” Seonghwa looks a little flustered now, eyes darting everywhere except to the boy in front of him. He starts twiddling with his fingers, the way he does when he gets nervous or anxious. “I, uh, I just wanted to come see you, because we haven’t met in a long while so … yeah …”

He trails off at the end, mumbling to himself and looking downwards. If one looks closer, they can see the light pink dusting the boy’s cheeks. 

Hongjoong blinks, taking a moment for the words to register in his head. When they do, he can feel his face heat up instantly, red colouring his cheeks and all the way up to his ears. He opens his mouth to say something back and closes it, opens again but he doesn’t really know what to say to that except “Oh,”.

They stand there like that, seconds passing between them as they stand awkwardly but not uncomfortably, both of them somehow losing their words at the same time. 

Standing there, Hongjoong lets his eyes sneakily roam over the older boy’s form. He bites his lip at the sight. 

Seonghwa looks _stunning_. 

The raven has his hair parted to a side, styled neatly with a few strands falling over his eyes. Decked out in a red and grey shirt with black fitting slacks, a pretty black lace choker adorning his neck and a matching earring dangling on his left ear. Hongjoong looks back up the other’s face and _oh my god_ are those little stars underneath his eyes? Yeah, Hongjoong was absolutely done for. 

“So,” Hongjoong clears his throat, desperate to clear the awkward air around them. “You, uh, you look good tonight, I mean— you do everyday but, you look very pretty right now.” 

God, Hongjoong wants to die on the spot. 

Seonghwa doesn’t seem too bothered though. Instead, he becomes even more shy, a small smile spreading across his lips. Seonghwa finally looks at Hongjoong then, eyes twinkling in delight. 

“You look lovely, too,” Seonghwa says softly. “And your hair looks great, even with all that bleaching.” The end is said teasingly, and Hongjoong lightly smacks the older for it. 

“Hey!” 

“Sorry, sorry,” Seonghwa grins, not sorry at all. “What colour are you going to try next?”

Because of course, Hongjoong is not one to _not_ dye his hair brightly. He cannot remember the last time he had black hair, if he is being honest. 

“I was going to tell you, but now I think I won’t because you’re being mean.” Hongjoong says. 

“Noo, tell me.” Seonghwa whines. 

“No.”

“Please.”

“Nope.”

“Rude.”

“Oh, excuse me _I’m_ the rude one—”

“Do you wanna dance?” 

Hongjoong pauses, jaw falling slack. 

“What?” He asks, baffled. 

“I asked if you wanted to dance,” Seonghwa repeats like it’s no big deal, and maybe it isn’t. He gestures to the dance floor where there are couples already pairing up and swaying to a slow beat. Then he turns back to Hongjoong and waits for a reply. 

“You … want to dance with me?” Hongjoong clarifies, not believing what he’s hearing. “I mean, yes I will but…” 

“But?” 

“Well,” He hesitates. “You’re not worried what people might say? We’re two guys after all, even if we’re not like that and…” 

Seonghwa tilts his head to a side. “I’m not, do you care?”

Hongjoong is taken aback at that but narrows his eyes. No, he does not care what people think of him or talk about him, he just wants to make sure Seonghwa is okay with it. He tells the older this much, and Seonghwa simply gives him his hand. 

“Then, I don’t think we have any problems.” Seonghwa says smoothly. “Shall we dance?”

Hongjoong bravely fights off the blush that is threatening to creep on his face and takes Seonghwa’s hand, letting the older boy lead him to the dance floor. 

Hongjoong lets his hands rest on Seonghwa’s shoulders, the other’s hands coming to settle on Hongjoong’s waist. Together, they slowly sway to the beat, uncaring of the stares or whispers. Hongjoong sees San from the corner of his eyes, smiling in amusement as the younger shoots him a thumbs-up. He watches as San grabs another friend of his — a guy — dragging him onto the middle of the room and starting to dance. Looking around, he sees a few more same gendered pairs join the dance floor, even spots a few girls from his class as well. 

Hongjoong turns back to face Seonghwa, startling when he already sees the older boy looking at him. They stare at each other for a while, lost in their own world, but Hongjoong caves in and averts his eyes away, heart beating a thousand miles per minute. 

The rest of the night is spent like that, passing by in a flurry of clumsy moves, friendly banter and stepping on toes, laughter ringing through the air. Hongjoong feels his heart swell with every song they dance to, not wanting the night to come to an end. Seonghwa shines bright under the blinding lights, even more so whenever he smiles or laughs when Hongjoong accidentally steps on his foot or missteps. 

By the time the party ends and they bid each other farewell, Hongjoong thinks he’s fallen a little bit more. 

* • * • * • * • *

The next day, Hongjoong is woken up rather rudely by one very enthusiastic Jung Wooyoung, who had insisted on dragging the silver haired boy to go shopping with him at 9AM in the morning for god knows what reason. 

Which brings Hongjoong to his current predicament, where he is standing in front of a thrifty looking store displayed with giant teddy bears and fairy lights, accompanied by a few selection of various succulents. He’s dressed in only a pair of faded blue jeans (with paint splotches marking it all over) and an oversized dark green hoodie covering his frame, and a pair of white customized sneakers. 

He’s very much half asleep — and still reeling from last night’s events if he is being honest — sighing as he enters the store after Wooyoung, who has way too much energy for anyone to have in the morning. 

Hongjoong walks around the store, observing the various eccentric items on display as Wooyoung asks the store clerk some questions. As he walks further inside, a section of the items catches his eye. 

Hongjoong pauses and stares at the rows of tiny colourful boxes of blue, yellow, pink and so on stacked up against each other. Each box has a label at the bottom with a caption, which Hongjoong realizes upon closer inspection, are actually song names. 

_Music boxes._

He comes to this realization, peering closer at the multicolored boxes and reaches out to pick one up. He turns the box over in his hands, the label spelling out “Wish You Were Here”. On the underside, there was a small key with an arrow turning clockwise next to it. Hongjoong turns the key as instructed, and stops. A tinkling tune sounded through the store, playing an unfamiliar but lovely tune. The boxes, although coloured, are clear so that the inside is transparent and the user can see the gears turning inside as music is played. 

Being enamoured with the little devices, Hongjoong calls Wooyoung over and they spend the next five minutes going through the music boxes one by one, playing out different songs for each. Hongjoong even finds one of his favourite piano pieces on it, Für Elise. And maybe Hongjoong stares a bit more at that box in particular, because the next moment Wooyoung is vehemently trying to persuade the older to buy the item. 

“San told me you rarely ever buy things for yourself, so now I am making you.”

“Really, Wooyoung, I don’t need it—” 

“I’ll buy it for you then.” 

“No, that’s worse.” 

“Fine, then you buy it.” 

“But—”

“No buts, you’re buying it.”

As they continue to squabble over buying the box, Hongjoong’s eyes move back to the display, wanting to choose a different coloured one, when he spots the label of a familiar song on one of them. He does a double take and reaches out to grab the music box, looking closer at the name. 

Just then, it’s like a light bulb goes off in his head. The idea hits Hongjoong like a crashing wave, similar to how he gets his sudden bouts of inspiration and motivation for his paintings. 

Hongjoong grins to himself. He knows exactly what birthday gift he’s going to give to Seonghwa.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I wrote the last scene of this chapter first before even working on the other scenes :D
> 
> Comments and feedback are much appreciated ^^


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ....Hi I did not abandon this fic I swear
> 
> So, not entirely satisfied with how this chapter turned out,,, but I also don't really know what to do to change it up either, there's a whole 2-3 pages with just narration and no dialogue like??? mostly because writing 8 characters at once is so hard lmao ANYWAY
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyy hopefully the next update will be much sooner now that I have more free time (no promises, though)

Yawning languidly, Hongjoong makes his way down the staircase, the chattering coming from the kitchen too loud for his half asleep brain at nine in the morning. He walks into the kitchen, greeting a good morning to the younger ones as he makes his way to brew himself a cup of coffee. Yunho is promptly passed out on the table whereas Jongho and Wooyoung are sitting across from each other in a heated debate of whether cheese is a countable noun or not in English. 

“I’m telling you, it’s ‘most cheese are’ it’s plural,”

“But it says ‘cheese is’,”

“You’re talking about plural cheese, not singular,”

“Then you should just say ‘most  _ cheeses _ are’ instead,” 

“‘Most cheese are’ and ‘most cheeses are’ feels different,”

“Yeah, so the correct one will be cheeses, but we’re not supposed to change the word,  _ so  _ it’s ‘is’,” 

“Cheese is a countable noun, ‘most’ is plural so it’s ‘are’,” 

“But cheese is uncountable?? Or it’s both…,” 

“Okay, but ‘most cheese is’ is wrong, it should be ‘are’,”

“But cheese is singular so it can’t be that!” 

“That literally makes no sense! Hyung, will you  _ please  _ tell him—”

Hongjoong drones out the rest of their little debate as he sips his coffee in peace (or chaos). It’s been two days since they came to Australia, and they’re slowly settling in the new environment. 

“So, what should we do today?” Wooyoung chirps cheerfully.

“Sleep,” Yunho mumbles from his corner.   
  
“Not shopping,” Hongjoong supplies helpfully, mind recalling the events from day before.

“Maybe actually start on our assignments,” Jongho stretches his arms. “Since, you know that’s the main reason we’re here in the first place.”

“Boo!” Wooyoung pouts. “You’re all boring, where’s your sense of fun and adventure?”

“We’re not on a vacation trip, Wooyoung.” Hongjoong comments wryly. 

“We’re in  _ Australia _ , we could be going out and exploring so many different things like gigantic spiders or kangaroos or other exotic animals but no, I’m stuck with a lump of little underdeveloped potatoes.”

“For someone who is vertically challenged, you sure have a big mouth.” Jongho quips. 

“Sorry, I don’t speak gym rat.”

“Oh, you think you’re so funny—”

“Alright, alright kids,” Hongjoong intervenes before the situation escalates out of reach. “Behave. I’m sure we can find something to do here, but maybe let’s not discuss this while half of us aren’t even properly awake, hm?”

(Yunho bear snores away peacefully in the midst of all the chatter).

_ Ding-dong! _

Everyone pauses. Wooyoung stops mid-argument, Jongho blinks, Yunho doesn’t stir one bit. Hongjoong is the first to speak.

“Was that the doorbell?” Hongjoong asks.

“Uh, I think so, yes.” Jongho answers, confused.

“Who can it be?” Wooyoung says. “We’re not expecting any visitors are we?”

“Not that I know of, no,” Hongjoong hums, standing up from his chair. “I’ll go get the door, you guys stay here and sit  _ nicely _ .”

Wooyoung turns back to the youngest. “As I was saying—”

“I have to pay attention to the opening of our door.” Jongho swiftly turns to the front door, seemingly very invested. 

Hongjoong rolls his eyes at their bickering, making his way over to the front door. When he opens it, he’s met with a face he doesn’t expect to see. 

Hongjoong blinks.

“San?”

Said boy grins widely, dimples all on display. Two more familiar heads pop up behind him, waving excitedly. 

“Hey, hyung,” San says, all smiles and sunshine and poor Hongjoong is just very confused. “Good morning to you, too.”

“Hello!” A tall, ginger haired boy perks up from behind San, dressed in a flannel shirt and sweatpants, looking way too adorable for a guy of his height. 

“I know you want to rejoice in your reunion, but can we please get inside first?” The other blonde haired boy speaks up, and  _ wow _ , he has no right looking that handsome in a simple black shirt and jeans looking like he just got out of bed, but he does. He’s the embodiment of a Greek god, Hongjoong thinks. 

“Ah, wait—” Hongjoong begins to say as the three boys make their way inside, choruses of hello’s and excuse me’s voiced out. 

As soon as the other two boys are inside, there’s yelling coming from the kitchen, soon more voices join in and the yells get even louder. Hongjoong stands there looking dumbfounded as Wooyoung hugs and screams together with the two boys who just casually strolled into the house. The reunion lasts for all of five seconds before Wooyoung sees San, who’s still a few meters from the door, and proceeds to unlatch himself from the group hug before launching at the older boy. 

“Sannie!” Wooyoung yells, joyful. 

“Younggie!” San cries, before moving to hug the younger boy back. The two of them stay latched together like that, leaving the oldest in the room even more confused and perplexed than ever. 

“Okay, uh,” Hongjoong says, pointing at his best friend. “Can one of you explain what’s going on right now? Specifically you, Choi San.” 

The dimpled boy only grins even more, slightly untangling himself from Wooyoung’s arms and faces Hongjoong. 

“Well,” He starts. “Remember how our group was supposed to move from the hotel to our actual places?”

Hongjoong nods slowly, still not getting where this was heading. 

The blond boy continues for San. “Apparently, the management thought it would be a ‘fun practical bonding’ experience, if we were to mix with students from other classes for the duration of the trip.”

“Meaning the four of us will be joining the four of you, and we’ll all be living together for the rest of the trip!” San finishes cheerfully, still half smothered by a very clingy Wooyoung (not that the older boy was complaining).

Hongjoong comes down from the initial shock of seeing his best friend at his doorstep so early in the morning and decides to simply accept whatever this was. He looks at the two unfamiliar faces. Or maybe … not that unfamiliar? He feels like he’s seen the other two boys somewhere, his brain deciding that maybe they just met sometime during college or passed by one another. 

They all make their way back into the kitchen, sitting down at the table, some opting to stand instead for whatever reason. By this time, Yunho had woken up fully, now engaged in a conversation with the tall ginger haired boy.

The blonde boy clears his throat. “Alright, uh, I think an introduction is appropriate. I’m Kang Yeosang, second year. I major in cyber security.”

A chorus of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ voice out through the room. The ginger haired boy speaks up next.

“My name is Mingi!” The boy speaks brightly. “Song Mingi, also second year. I’m majoring in music production.”

_ Ah, that’s probably where Hongjoong recognizes him from. _

“Hyung studies music too,” San supplies helpfully. “Maybe you two might have crossed each other.”

Hongjoong gives the taller boy a smile. “Maybe.”

“Oh, well,” Wooyoung speaks up. “I already know both of them well enough, especially Yeosangie.”

“I’m not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing, honestly.” Yeosang muses, the rest of them erupting in laughter as Wooyoung pouts. 

“I like this one,” Yunho jokes, causing the blonde boy to blush to the tip of his ears. 

“Ah. ah,” Mingi says. “Yeosang has a sharp mouth, but he can’t take compliments easily.” 

This only causes the boy to shy away further, the rest of them all cooing in endearment. They then go through introductions one by one, asking about each other’s majors and similar classes until all of them are finished. 

“So,” Hongjoong starts. “The three of you are already friends.” He points at Wooyoung, Yeosang and Mingi. They all nod in response. 

“Great,” San says. “Because the four of us are friends too, and we have a few mutual friends here, so it’s like two groups of friends joining into one big group!”

Jongho raises a hand. “But San hyung, didn’t you say there’s four of you?” He asks. “There’s only seven of us here now, it should be eight, right?”

“Ah, yeah,” San replies. “He’s coming in a few minutes actually, I think he had some trouble with the traffic.”

“You guys didn't come together?” Hongjoong questions.

“We didn’t have enough space with all the luggage and all, so hyung said he’ll come separately.” Mingi shrugs.

“Hyung will be disappointed to know he’s the last one to join though,” Yeosang says amusedly. “After all, he doesn’t like being late.”

Hongjoong notes the honorific mentioned. That means the last one to join them is most likely the same age as Hongjoong. Wooyung seems to take notice of this as well. 

“Hyung?” Wooyoung gasps, excited. “Are you telling me hyung is going to join us, too?”

Just then, the doorbell rings again, interrupting them once more. 

“Speak of the devil,” Yunho comments.

“Hongjoong hyung, you should go get the door.” San says with a sly grin on his face. 

That was definitely not suspicious. Hongjoong narrows his eyes. “And why exactly, should it be me?”

“Because you’re the oldest.” Wooyoung retorts. “Now, go, go!”

Hongjoong sighs. He walks over to the front door, six pairs of eyes watching eagerly from behind.

When he opens the door, he’s even more shocked than the first time.

The raven haired boy standing at his doorstep is dressed in a light blue hoodie and faded grey jeans. The boy’s eyes widen in surprise at first, before lighting up in a crooked smile.

“Hi,” Seonghwa says, grinning sheepishly. “Mind if I come in?”

* • * • * • * • *

And that is how two hours later, Hongjoong finds himself lying on the couch, cuddled up next to Seonghwa as they watched How to Train Your Dragon:2 on the large screen television. 

Hongjoong thinks back to how he ended up in this situation, recalling the events from nearly two hours ago.

Seonghwa had appeared on their doorstep, giving Hongjoong a near heart attack — which he will never admit out loud — and then winded up in a group hug with Wooyoung, Yeosang and Mingi while the rest of the boys watched in half amusement and half confusion. 

(It was at this point that Hongjoong realized where he recognized the other two boys from, as Seonghwa was friends and talked about Yeosang and Mingi a lot. Hongjoong had even met Yeosang briefly a few times whenever the younger visited Seonghwa at the apartment. Sue him for having a forgetful memory).

Next, they proceed to go through a second round of introductions, this time including Seonghwa, who turns out to be the eldest of the bunch. Cue lots of teasing and very loud chattering for the next thirty minutes or so. The only reason it even came to a stop is because Hongjoong clapped his hands and suggested for the four boys to settle down in the apartment first. 

This, of course, led to another discussion of roommates and who would sleep where and which pairings; which you would think would be simple enough to discuss, but think again. 

The two groups of friends seemed to get along well — a little too well, in fact — and Hongjoong didn’t know if this was a wonderful idea or a cause for one big chaos. On one hand, you had the WooSan duo, who were already terrors on their own, and together they just spelled trouble. On the other hand, the second years seemed to get along all together, adding a very enthusiastic Jongho into the mix and you get a recipe for chaos. Hongjoong prayed for the stability of the house.

While the younger ones were busy with their very intense discussion, the two oldest of them seemed to gravitate towards one another, striking a conversation between them in their own little bubble. Both of them had been surprised to find the other in such a case, but were nonetheless delighted to be living in the same house for their trip.

Of course, Wooyoung, being the ever so observant boy he is, had taken note of the two eldest duo and quickly made up some excuse to leave the house, dragging along his best friends as he did. The others seemed to catch up with it soon, hurriedly coming up with even more ridiculous excuses and scrambling themselves out the door. San had even given Hongjoong a sly wink before sauntering out the house. Hongjoong hates his friends (not really). 

Which left Seonghwa and Hongjoong alone at the house, both of them sitting dumbfounded at the fact that everyone else had just gone like that. After a few awkward minutes of fumbling, Hongjoong managed to suggest if the older wanted to watch a movie, to which he said yes.

And that, is how the two of them end up cuddled on the couch together underneath a blanket. Hongjoong is not complaining though, not one bit.

“You know,” Hongjoong starts. “Your birthday is coming up. You have any specific plans?”

Seonghwa hums. “Nothing much, I suppose,” He says, shifting slightly in his position. “I’ll probably make a special video, though, I have a few ideas in mind…”   


“Mm, care to share?” Hongjoong asks. 

Neither of them are entirely focused on the movie, having watched it one too many times by now.

Seonghwa gives him a lopsided smile. “That’s a secret.”

“Unfair.”

“It won’t be a surprise if I tell you now, would it?”

“Alright, alright, but only because it’s your birthday.” Hongjoong huffs, not actually mad but just playing it for the sake of it.

Seonghwa laughs, before bumping his head against the younger. If Hongjoong’s heart skipped a beat, no one needed to know.

“Since we’re on the topic, did you get me a birthday gift yet?” Seonghwa says teasingly.

“Hmm, let me think,” Hongjoong pretends to think about it for a while. “I won’t tell you.”

“But why,”

“It’s a secret,” 

“Don’t tell me … you didn’t even get anything for me?” Seonghwa gasps dramatically.

Hongjoong snorts. “No,”

“Hongjooong,” Seonghwa whines.

“It won’t be a surprise if I tell you now, will it?” Hongjoong sticks his tongue out cheekily, parroting back Seonghwa’s words from earlier. 

Seonghwa pouts petulantly and they squabble like that for a while, the movie all but forgotten as time passes until the front door opens and their friends tumble back into the house like a bunch of loud little ducklings.

“We’re back!” Wooyoung announces, holding up what looked like three different paper bags. 

“We can see,” Hongjoong says dryly, a little miffed about having his quality time with Seonghwa interrupted. 

“Are we interrupting something?” Yunho teases, commenting on how close the two oldest members are snuggled up together. “We can just leave right back, if you want.”

Hongjoong glares at the taller boy from his position on the couch, which is not very effective to say as he looks about as intimidating as a kitten. Seonghwa, apparently not having heard Yunho, is already getting up and making his way over to the younger ones, asking about how their outing went and helping them with the bags.

_ Bless his pure, oblivious soul, Hongjoong thinks. _

Hongjoong makes eye contact with San, already seeing a playful remark on the tip of the younger’s tongue. He glares a bit more and gets up as well, not wanting to deal with anymore of his best friends’ teasing and goes over to help.

Needless to say, dinner that night is  _ very  _ entertaining.

* • * • * • * • *

A few days pass by and they are spent slowly getting to know one another and bonding, as well as settling in the house with eight people together. Soon, Seonghwa’s birthday comes around.

Currently, all eight boys are huddled in the living room, half of them occupied in hanging the shiny silver letters and balloons on the wall while the other half sets the table for the cake. They are preparing for Seonghwa’s latest video which is going to be held live on Seonghwa’s YouTube channel, and features him reading out letters from his lovely fans and cutting his birthday cake with his friends. Most of the boys agreed that they were fine without being in the video itself, as it was Seonghwa’s special day and it should be focused on only himself. Hongjoong, however, will be joining the older boy near the middle of the video as part of their mini collaboration series.

Wooyoung, San and Yeosang are busy setting up the table while Mingi and Yunho try their best to hang the balloons on the wall behind where Seonghwa is meant to be seated.

Jongho has taken it upon himself to be the cameraman, whereas Hongjoong and Seonghwa are going over their script and making sure everything is going smoothly. Leo runs around the living room, trying to get either Hongjoong or Seonghwa’s attention until Yunho gives him a balloon to play with.

Speaking of the baby husky, Hongjoong had felt terrible for having to leave his puppy with his parents at home but he had no choice as pets were not allowed to be brought on the trip. Luckily, Wooyoung had a relative who lived in Australia and was coming back from Korea right before Seonghwa’s birthday, and so Hongjoong had asked Wooyoung if his relative could bring Leo with her and they would go get him later. She had agreed and brought the puppy with her, and then Hongjoong had gone to receive him along with Wooyoung and Yunho (and maybe it was bending the rules a bit, but who was to know?).

It goes without saying, everyone immediately fell in love with the baby husky, going far as to taking turns playing with him. Hongjoong just knows his little munchkin is basking in all the attention.

Back to Seonghwa’s birthday, the morning earlier had been eventful, as the oldest boy was woken up in surprise by his very enthusiastic friends (AKA the 99 line + one maknae). They had proceeded to spend the day out, going to places Seonghwa liked, taking pictures, eating lots of delicious foods and finally strolled back home in the afternoon. As for the "secret plans" Seonghwa had told Hongjoong about, it turned out to be a special dance video of Seonghwa with San, both of them covering popular songs and overall garnering a ton of attention from fans as it was uploaded on his YouTube channel. Seonghwa had to put his phone away with the amount of notifications flooding his screen. 

(If Hongjoong spent a good amount of time staring unabashedly at Seonghwa’s dancing form on the screen, no he did not. He was simply admiring both of his extremely talented best friends, that was all. He was definitely not staring or drooling. He was not. And maybe his heart skipped several beats and his stomach did somersaults, but who was to know?)

All of them had spent the rest of the day watching the video on the television, cheering and supporting their two friends, with a little bit of loving teasing too. Hongjoong questioned when they even had the time to film such a video, much less practice for it. San and Seonghwa simply looked at one another before smiling, “It’s a secret.”

By now, it is near eight o’clock, the younger members of the group already having given their gifts to their eldest. The gifts are set on a side at the table where Seonghwa is sitting, waiting to be opened later during the live. Hongjoong’s gift is not among them, however, as he wanted to give it privately to Seonghwa later after the live ended, earning him a handful of teasing from the kids and more pouting from Seonghwa. He didn’t protest any further though, opting to wait patiently. 

Once the preparations are done, they all wait behind the camera as Jongho starts recording live. 

The video starts with Seonghwa greeting the viewers as usual, then moving on to talk about his day and answer some questions from his Q&A session on Twitter previously, as well as come comments from the live chat. The members make a few comments in between, teasing the oldest endlessly with love. 

“Wah, he’s blushing, he’s blushing,”

“How cute,”

“Hyung, you look so handsome today!,”

“Wow, his ears are really turning red,”

“Look at him, he’s all shy aww, our cute Seonghwa hyung,”

After that, he begins to read out some letters sent from his fans wishing him a happy birthday, to which he thanks all of them for gratefully. Next, comes the exciting part where Hongjoong joins in bringing over the strawberry birthday cake. He sets the cake down on the table in front of Seonghwa and waves to the viewers, smiling at the increasing comments. 

“Surprise, everyone!” Hongjoong says, waving to the camera. “Did you miss me?”

Hongjoong lights up the candles and everyone starts to sing as Seonghwa picks up the knife to cut the cake. When it’s done, they all clap and cheer, Seonghwa turning to feed the first slice to Hongjoong. 

“Eat well, my friend,” Seonghwa smiles lightly, feeding Hongjoong the cake slice. Ensue lots of whooping and hollering in the background, courtesy of their lovely friends.

Seonghwa feeds each of his friends a slice, making sure everyone’s faces are off camera, and WooSan makes sure to steal a bit of the cake only to smear it across the older boy’s face. They all laugh as Seonghwa pretends to chase the mischievous pair around the house before giving up and settling down in his seat once more. Hongjoong wordlessly hands him a tissue to wipe the cream off his face.

Once his face is clean, Seonghwa takes another moment to thank everyone and reads a few more comments, noticing one in particular.

“Ahh,” He says. “About the dance video with Sannie … everyone, did you enjoy that? Actually San is here, too.” Seonghwa gestures behind the camera, silently asking if San was alright with showing his face on camera. 

With zero hesitancy, San walks over and places himself on Seonghwa’s left side (with Hongjoong on the right) and waves hello to the camera. 

“Hi, there~” San says. “I’m San. Nice to meet you, everyone~”

They talk about the dance video they did together, Hongjoong acting as a pretend interviewer/MC for Seonghwa and San. They continue like that for a while, and Seonghwa opens his presents from his friends as they all watch in anticipation. The gifts varied from all sorts of things from action figurines to a quality waffle maker. Soon, they say their goodbyes, Seonghwa wishing the viewers a good night and thank you once again. 

As soon as Jongho stops the recording, Mingi yells out, suggesting they all go out for a movie to end the day. Before anyone can even ask, he brings out a bunch of movie tickets, claiming that he already bought them with Wooyoung, which is why they should absolutely go, much to everyone else’s confusion and amusement. 

And so, they make their way to the cinema right after.

* • * • * • * • *

Halfway through the movie and Hongjoong is already falling asleep.

He glances up from where he’s sitting and looks at everyone else, who either seems to be occupied in the movie or in a very passionate debate about said movie. Seonghwa sits on his right side, sipping on his drink as he tries his best to focus on the movie playing on the screen and not his friends sitting a few seats away from his not-so-quietly whispering back and forth. 

Hongjoong nudges the boy’s shoulder. 

“Hey,” He whispers. 

Seonghwa whispers back. “Hey to you, too.”

“I’m falling asleep, you wanna get out of here?” 

As soon as the words leave his lips, Hongjoong realizes what it sounds like and his face burns, because that is  _ not  _ what he meant to convey, but now it’s out there and there’s nothing he can do about it. 

“Just for a few minutes! We can come back again…” 

Luckily, Seonghwa doesn’t seem to give it much thought. 

“But it’s a very crucial scene right now,” Seonghwa says in a hushed voice, eyes focused on the screen. “I’ll go, don’t worry, but do you want to wait maybe five minutes?”

“What if I tell you I have your birthday gift with me right now?”

That seems to do the trick as Seonghwa wastes no time before gently hauling Hongjoong up and excusing themselves out of the cinema as fast and quietly as he could. None of their friends seem to notice, except for Yeosang who only grins in amusement and waves them off discreetly. Seonghwa mouths a ‘will be back’ before taking Hongjoong’s hand and leaving out the door.

Hongjoong lets himself be dragged to wherever Seonghwa was taking him, which didn’t look like he had any place in mind, really. The only thing in Hongjoong’s mind is how nice his hand feels in Seonghwa’s and that he never wants to let go.

They stop at a nearby park only two minutes away and Seonghwa turns around, facing Hongjoong. He notices Hongjoong’s gaze and looks down, hurriedly retracting his hand back and Hongjoong misses the warmth immediately.

“I’m sorry!” Seonghwa rushes to apologize. “I know you’re not that comfortable with skinship, I didn’t realize … ah, never mind.”

Hongjoong pushes down the voice in him which says  _ ‘I don’t mind if it’s you’ _ .

“It’s okay,” Hongjoong reassures.

They stand awkwardly flustered for a whole minute until Seonghwa speaks up again.

“So,” Seonghwa says, eyes lighting up like Christmas lights, and he looks so endearingly excited like a puppy that Hongjoong can’t help but smile. “Where’s my gift? Are you sure you even have it? You didn’t even bring a bag with you or anything…” He says, giving Hongjoong a lookover. 

“Don’t worry,” Hongjoong chuckles. “I did bring your gift. I was planning to give it to you at the house later on but I guess now is a good time too. Plus, it might be past midnight by the time we reach back, and I don’t want to give your present after your birthday has passed.”

Seonghwa smiles gently. “That’s sweet of you.”

Hongjoong slowly reaches inside his jacket as Seonghwa waits patiently, feeling a sudden nervousness but ignoring it off and pulling out the small box from his pocket. It’s wrapped in a simple brown paper with a gold ribbon placed on top, and Hongjoong hands it over to the older boy.

“Happy birthday, Seonghwa.”

Seonghwa smiles excitedly, taking the gift from Hongjoong and carefully starts unwrapping the box. Now, it’s the younger’s turn to wait nervously for the raven haired boy’s reaction. 

When the first piece of the gift comes into view, Seonghwa gasps softly, tearing away the rest of the wrapping paper to reveal the tiny music box. It’s small enough to fit in his hand, and it’s painted all over with a starry galaxy and some planets on the sides — Seonghwa taking a second to recognize it as the solar system but drawn creatively in Hongjoong’s own unique way.

The older boy turns the square object around a bit, confused as to what it was supposed to be until he sees the key underneath the box. Seonghwa looks at Hongjoong first, who only gives him a smile and nod towards the box, wordlessly telling him to go ahead. 

Seonghwa turns the key and the first few notes of the song tune out.

If Seonghwa was surprised when he first unwrapped the gift, now he stands completely astounded. The notes of You Are My Sunshine continues to play as a single tear falls down his cheek, and Hongjoong slightly panics.

“Hwa?” Hongjoong says, worried. “Do you not like it? I’m sorry I didn’t— oof,”

Whatever Hongjoong is about to say gets interrupted as Seonghwa engulfs the younger boy in a tight hug, making Hongjoong’s brain short circuit.

“No, Hongjoong, its—,” Seonghwa bites his lip and takes in a deep breath. He takes a moment to get his thoughts together before continuing. “I love it.”

Hongjoong feels the breath leave him all at once, and relief washes over him. 

“Oh,”

“Thank you, Joong,” Seonghwa laughs, voice slightly tearing up. “You don’t know how much this means to me. Thank you, I love your gift.”

Hongjoong smiles from where his cheek is pushed against the taller boy’s shoulder. He brings his arms up to wrap around Seonghwa and hugs him back. 

“I’m glad you do,” Hongjoong says softly. 

Seonghwa gently sways them side to side. “You’re not uncomfortable, are you? I understand if you are…” He loosens his grip a bit and oh no, Hongjoong is not having that.

“Nope, it’s fine,” Hongjoong hugs even tighter in response, refusing to let the other pull away. “Plus, it’s your birthday so consider it an exception.”

Hongjoong plays it off well, even though really he doesn’t want to let go of the taller boy for his own selfish reasons.

And maybe they make an odd sight; two grown men hugging each other on the side of a park at past ten in the evening, but neither of them care. There aren't many people around anyway. 

“I’m happy, I’m really happy.” Seonghwa laughs, voice bright and full of joy, and Hongjoong feels his heart swell from adoration. 

_ I’m happy you are. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The "Eat well, my friend," sounds so much better in Korean istg "잘 먹어 친구 야" (jal meog-eo chingu ya). 
> 
> I was worried this chapter might be too short at first but then it turned out to be longer than the last ._.
> 
> Also just in time for ATEEZ comeback tomorrow!! Can't wait :D
> 
> Comments and feedback are much appreciated ^^


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